Fransk konstnär 1700-tal

Pierre André de Suffren de Saint-Tropez, born 1726 in Saint-Cannat (Provence), died 1788 in Paris, was a French naval officer.

De Suffren were part of the French Navy in 1743 and took part in several battles against the English, including Toulon (1744) and in India. After the Peace of Aachen (1748), he entered the service of the Maltese Order and successfully participated in their battles against the Barbarian States. In 1778 he participated as a captain in the French navy in the North American War of Independence and excelled in the Battle of Grenada (July 6, 1779). As leading officer of a Franco-Spanish squadron, he captured an English squadron of 12 ships on 9 August 1780 at Cape Saint Vincent. In 1781 he was sent to the Cape Colony at the head of a rescue expedition for the Dutch and succeeded in rescuing it. The following year, he inflicted heavy losses on the English fleet at Trinquemale in Ceylon and made some conquests ashore. For his great merits he eventually became Vice Admiral. De Suffren became a kind of national hero.